Drunken Dialects of the South, With Your Guide Dennis Quaid

Dennis Quaid completed publicity rounds for The Express last night with a visit to Conan O'Brien, who veered a ways off the script with a shout-out to Quaid's sultry 1987 potboiler The Big Easy. We had forgotten until that moment how mesmerizingly awkward his New Orleans detective's bastardized Cajun accent was, but with the aid of his unfailing actor's recall and an apparent nip or eight of green-room white lightning, the one-time King of Mardi Gras stunned the audience silent with a garbled scat that makes his Express turn look cardboard in comparison. "That was kind of schizophrenic," concluded the rattled O'Brien. Sure — that's one word for it. [Late Night with Conan O'Brien]